52 Ancestors - #6 Alexander Campbell Martin

Now I move into the ancestors I never had the opportunity to know personally.  I appreciate the tools that provide information to gain an understanding of these folks without the privilege of a face-to-face relationship.  Technology is helping to create this understanding in a convenient and more economical way. Sharing also increases our appreciation for our ancestors as more stories and information come to light.  As you look at the blogs shared in this challenge (other participant posts as well as my own), please share your memories of the individuals spotlighted.

Alexander Campbell Martin

Alexander Campbell Martin was born August 27, 1874 to Edward Lovell and Leann Hill Martin.  At the time the family was living in Eagle Creek, Overton, Tennessee.  Eagle Creek, no longer a town, was located in middle Tennessee not far from the Kentucky border.  It was between two current Tennessee State Parks, Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park and Standing Stone State Park.  Dale Hollow Lake is to the north.

Alexander was the fifth child of Edward and Leann.  His older siblings were: Thomas Welcome, known as Welk; John Stokely, known as Stoke; Mary Catherine; and William C.  He was followed by:  Nancy Elizabeth, known as Nannie; Carlis Chilton; Cordelia; and, Belle.

Sometime between the time the 1880 census was taken in Tennessee and 1883, the Martin family moved to Texas in search of better opportunities. Leann passed away in Hardy, Montague, Texas in 1883.  Alexander was just nine years old and the baby, Belle, was just one.

By the 1890s, the family had relocated to the Indian Territory, what is now Oklahoma.  Here Alexander met his future wife, Bertia Mae Duncan.  They were married on December 23, 1894 in Mannsville.  Mannsville was located in the Chickasaw Nation Territory.  Alexander and Bertie made their home in Earl, a small town less than five miles from Mannsville. It would become part of Johnston County when Oklahoma was made a state.  Within the coming year, Alexander's sister, Nannie, would marry Bertia's brother Nathan.
The family of Alexander and Bertia would begin to grow with the birth of their first child, John Eldredge Martin in October 1895.  John would be followed by Bessie (Bess) in 1897 and Walter in 1899.

Alexander, John, Bertia
Walter, Bess, & Verna 1902 

In 1900 the family is found in Brazoria County, Texas seeking the opportunities offered by the booming Galveston economy.  This would come to a sad ending with the Galveston hurricane in September 1900.  The storm wiped out their worldly possessions and claimed the life of Bertia's father from injuries sustained during the storm.  The little family would return to Earl and Indian Territory to start over again.

Alexander and his family returned to Earl where he became a tenant farmer.  Tenant farming in Oklahoma was a bit different than other locations in the South.  The main difference being that most of the tenants were white.  Indian Territory was about the last frontier with good farm land.  However, Indian law prohibited white land ownership as well as prohibiting Indians the right to lease their land to outsiders, but this was worked around by employing whites to work their land.  Under this work around, a flood of white tenants came to the territory between 1870 and the 1890s.  By 1900 three-fourths of all tenant farmers in Oklahoma were white.  Between 1900 and 1910, this number had doubled.

The usual arrangement with tenant farmers in Oklahoma was to return one-third of the grain crop to the landlord in addition to one-fourth of the cotton crop produced.  The Tenant was responsible to provide most of the equipment, animals, and furnishings.  Alex would remain a tenant farmer until 1920 when he moved the family to Healdton, Oklahoma.

Alexander's family continued to grow with the birth of Verna in November 1901.  Seven more little

Front:  Ethel, Bess, Alex, Ken (on lap), Bertia, and John
Middle:  Don and Vieva
Back:  Edith, Ora, Will, Walt and Verna

ones would join the family:  Ora Mae, November 1903; William Alexander (Bill), July 1906; Edith Bertia (Edith), January 1910; Don Edward (Don), January 1912; Vieva Rebecca (Vieva), July 1914; Ethel Marita (Ethel), October 1917; and, Kenneth Paul (Ken), October 1922.

Oldest son, John, served in World War I, married a young girl from Salt Lake City, Edith Louise Backman, and would not return to Oklahoma to live.  Several of the children would marry and live in cities in Oklahoma and Texas.  Son Bill died in an oil field accident on May 21, 1931.  Bill was the first child to die.

According to the 1930 census, Alex worked in the oil fields as an engineer.  In 1932, the family moved to Durant, Oklahoma.

In he 1940 census, Alexander was the proprietor of a lunch stand in Durant.

Alex passed away on July 4, 1949 in Sherman, Texas.  He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Ardmore, Oklahoma.